Battle for Ramanagara: An Iconic Town Encapsulates Karnataka's 2023 Poll Battle

Ramanagara, once known as the town where Sholay was picturised, will see a tough three-way contest this year.

In the 1970s, thanks to the Hindi blockbuster ‘Sholay’ (1975), Ramanagara – a small town located about 60 km from Bengaluru – made national news as the film was almost entirely shot here. In fact, the iconic scene in which Hema Malini (as Basanti) danced on glass shards was shot at Ramadevara Betta, a hillock in this town, which is now called Sholay Betta for its association with the film.  

In this iconic village, a tough poll battle, encapsulating the tight contest that Karnataka may witness in Assembly elections scheduled for April-May 2023, is expected to be fought. Why? Here, a three-way contest may unfold between the JD(S), the Congress and the BJP. 

What's In Store for Ramanagara and by Extension, Karnataka? 

A constituency dominated by the Vokkaliga community, which constitutes 15 percent of the state's total population followed by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the Muslims, the fray here has always been between the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress. The BJP was, until recently, a minor player struggling to gain a foothold in the constituency.  

Here’s what’s at play this election.

Also known as the ‘silk town’ of Karnataka as it houses Asia’s largest cocoon market, the constituency had once given former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda a political phoenix moment, as he won this constituency in 1994 after he was routed elsewhere in 1989.

In the upcoming election, the Gowda family’s third generation leader – former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son and actor Nikhil Kumaraswamy – will be the  JD(S) candidate.

Striking a different note, the Congress, under its State President DK Shivakumar, is expected to exert its might in the constituency where Vokkaligas, a dominant Hindu caste, call the shots.

Shivakumar has been wooing the Vokkaligas and has direct influence in Bengaluru and its surrounding areas including Ramanagara.

At the same time, the BJP has upped the game here – Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that a ‘majestic’ Ram temple, on the lines of the one being built in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, will be constructed in Ramanagara. In a way, the BJP wants Ramanagara to become the ‘Ayodhya of South India’ – a Hindu temple town where politics is fought on sectarian grounds.

Meaning, in Ramanagara, a high decibel electoral battle is expected to be fought. This town’s poll battle will reflect the predominant tropes of Karnataka Assembly election this year – the Congress is expected to ride the anti-incumbency factor against the ruling government and the BJP may rally behind veteran politician BS Yediyurappa for Lingayat votes and its outspoken leaders to flare communal sentiments. This, even as the JD(S) will try to hold on to its sway among the Vokkaligas who are now being wooed by both the BJP and the Congress.  

The Tough Fight Ahead

This constituency, like most of Karnataka this year, will not be an easy grab for any of the political players. For instance, JD(S)' Nikhil Kumaraswamy is a once-routed candidate who is expected to rely on his party's traditional vote base to be elected. This will be his second attempt to enter electoral politics after he lost the Mandya Lok Sabha seat to independent candidate Sumalatha in 2019. While his chances are promising in Ramanagara, both Congress and BJP will not make it easy for Nikhil. 

As for the BJP, the party has been wooing the Vokkaliga voters of Old Mysuru region where Ramanagara falls, for long. The party’s decision to build a Ram temple here is an attempt to evoke mythology. According to Hindu belief, Lord Ram, during his exile, had visited Ramanagara and rested on the banks of Arkavathy river. The BJP sees the temple project as a game-changer for garnering the Hindu votes on the premise that the Muslims, who also form a decisive voting block here, have not voted for the saffron party in the past.

The Ram temple proposal has drawn flak from the JD(S)and the Congress, with these parties accusing the BJP of propping this project up to bag votes. KPCC President D K Shivakumar even taunted the BJP, asking the party to first build its party office in the constituency before building the temple. 

But Ramanagara is a centrally located town, as far as the BJP’s calculations go, as the 10-lane Expressway from Bengaluru to Mysuru, which  Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to  inaugurate on 12 March, falls close to the adjoining constituencies – Channapatna and Kanakapura – from where HD Kumaraswamy and DK Shivakumar are expected to contest.  

For the Congress too, the battle is not going to be a cakewalk here. The grand old party is expected to renominate 63-year-old HA Iqbal Hussain, a businessman who lost to HD Kumaraswamy by a margin of 22,636 votes in 2018. With Hussain, the party hopes to bag the Muslim votes besides the votes of Other Backward Classes, and with DK Shivakumar’s help it plans to bag the Vokkaliga votes as the KPCC president is a Vokkaliga leader himself.

But in a constituency where the BJP is expected to raise communal sentiments, can the Congress’ strategy, that rides solely on Shivakumar’s popularity, work?  

Meanwhile, the battle for Ramanagara will be iconic for other reasons too. This constituency had earlier produced four Vokkaliga chief ministers, none of whom completed their terms. Here’s a lesson in history.  

Four Former CMs from Ramanagara and the Aspiring CMs 

Ramanagara town was known as Shamserabad during Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan's reign. Later, it was called Closepet, after Sir Barry Close (1756–1813). It was renamed Ramanagara by the former Chief Minister Kengal Hunumanthaiah. 

Architect of Karnataka Assembly complex or Vidhana Soudha, Kengal Hanumanthaiah, who was elected from Ramanagara, was Karnataka CM from 1952 to 1956. His own MLAs voted against him in a no-confidence motion as corruption charges were levelled against Hanumanthaiah in 1956. Later, Deve Gowda, who had  lost from Sathanur (a constituency that existed before delimitation in 2008) and Holenarsipur in his home district Hassan, won from Ramanagara in 1994 and became the CM before  vacating the chair to take over the Prime Minister’s role in 1996.

HD Kumaraswamy lost the Sathanur seat in 1994 and returned to the Assembly from Ramanagara in 2004. In 2006, he became the Chief Minister under JD(S) BJP rule which lasted only till 2007. Again, in 2018 he won from Ramanagara and became the CM but had to step down in 2019, when 17 MLAs from the Congress and his party crossed over to the BJP. 

While this has been Ramanagara’s past, in the future too the constituency may play a key role for two candidates who aspire to be chief minister of Karnataka – HD Kumaraswamy and DK Shivakumar. While Kumaraswamy represented Ramanagara from 2004 to 2018, the place is still held within the Gowda family as his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy won the bypoll to the seat vacated by her husband in 2018. For DK Shivakumar, Ramanagara and Kanakapura are equally important as both fall within the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha seat held by his brother DK Suresh.

BJP leader and Minister in-charge of Ramanagara district CN Ashwath Narayan and BJP MLC CP Yogeshwar, who are both Vokkaligas are, however, expected to sternly oppose Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar.

Yogeshwar had lost Channapatna seat to Kumaraswamy in 2018 and has since been attempting to bring down the latter. His attempt to inaugurate development work in Channapatna without the presence of Kumaraswamy led to clashes between JD(S) and BJP workers in October 2022. Meanwhile, Narayan too has been crossing swords with Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar.

In January 2022, Narayan and Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh nearly came to blows on a dais in Ramanagara, when  the minister made derogatory statements against him.

In February this year, Narayan's claims that the credit for all development works in Ramanagara should go to the BJP government was vociferously refuted by Anitha Kumaraswamy who told him,“Go take care of (his) Malleshwaram constituency. We all know how much work has been done there.'' 

The Ramanagara Campaigners  

Even before the Ramanagara ticket was announced for him, 33-year-old Nikhil Kumaraswamy has been touring the constituency. “I did not sit at home after losing Mandya. My family's association with Ramanagara is 30 years old and the people here have built the political careers of my grandfather (Deve Gowda) and father (Kumaraswamy),'' he told The Quint. When asked where the Muslim votes would go, he said that the Muslim community had stood by the Congress in earlier polls, “but my father was the first to speak out against the ban on Hijab.”

However, with the Congress expected to field HA Iqbal Hussain, the poll battle could be close as he will have influence among Muslim voters and OBC voters. Though The Quint reached out to Hussain, he was not available for comment.  

In the BJP, the front-runner for the Ramanagara ticket is 38-year- old M Gautham Gowda, son of former JD(S) MLC Marilinge Gowda, who is now in the BJP. A Masters Degree holder in Business Management from University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Gautham Gowda told The Quint, “During the first 60 days of lockdown during the pandemic, people were struggling for basic civic amenities (in Ramanagara). Along with my IT friends, I went around the constituency helping them and people started recognising me. One cannot do social service without being connected politically and I decided to take the plunge.''

However, it’s going to be an uphill task for the BJP because the party was left red-faced in 2018, when its candidate L Chandrashekhar retired from the contest just two days before the polls, accusing the party leaders of failing to campaign for him.  

With the fray expected to be fought with gusto, will Ramanagara produce a nail-biting contest?